Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Homeland Security | Pastor John Greiner
“Homeland Security” focuses on the believer’s true citizenship in heaven and the divine protection, assurance, and inheritance that come with it. Using Philippians 3:20 and 2 Corinthians 5, the message explains that while believers live on earth, their ultimate allegiance and security come from God. Just as earthly security requires a deposit or pledge, believers have the Holy Spirit as a divine guarantee of their eternal future. The message outlines three spiritual aspects of “homeland security”: (1) safety—freedom from fear and catastrophe, (2) a security deposit—the Holy Spirit as God’s promise of eternal life and glorified bodies, and (3) lasting wealth—heavenly rewards that cannot be corrupted or stolen. In contrast to the instability of worldly systems, the believer’s security in Christ is unshakable, making it possible to live with confidence, boldness, and generosity even amid the troubling “signs of the times.”
Bible and lift them up and wave them around, and wave our Bibles and make Jesus glad and the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, thank God, for Wednesday night I'm here to receive. I'm specially attuned in to what God is saying to me tonight. I'm not listening for other people, I'm listening for myself and I believe I've received revelation that will build my faith in Jesus' name. Amen, you can be seated and let's look at Philippians, chapter 3. And let's start reading with verse 20. It says I'm reading out of the King James, for our conversation is in heaven. From whence also, we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. He's able to subdue all things unto himself, and you know that word conversation there in the Greek is the Greek word politumo, or politics. We get the word politics from that and it means citizenship, citizenship.
Speaker 1:So tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Homeland Security. You know Homeland Security has been in the news and it's been in the news for quite a while, especially when Homeland Security was run by Mayorkas, who never enforced the law and let our country go down the tubes to murderers and rapists and terrorists and all kinds of things. They're arresting a few of them right now. Homeland Security has got a new head and that's Kristi Noem, former governor of South Dakota. She's a firecracker and I like what she's done so far and you know she's trying to recover our nation from the lack of Homeland Security. Just to remind you, we never had a Department of Homeland Security until George W Bush decided, after 9-11, to create the most bloated, useless, in my opinion bureaucracy that ever lived. I mean, they're the ones in charge of taking your shoes off at the airport. I don't know who dreamed that up. I mean, one guy had a bomb in his shoe and it meant that every one of us had to take our shoes off. They never look at the guy that's dressed like the Middle East. That's. The only people that ever blew anything up in our country were people from there, but all of us, including Grandma, take their shoes off.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I've got that off my you know what? We're citizens of heaven, but we do have homeland security. I do want to talk about that. And? And since we're citizens of heaven, then that is our homeland, isn't it? And so, uh, I, I preach this message so that you'll look at yourself, uh, more and more in the spirit. I mean, let's recognize who we are. Where we really pledge allegiance, yeah. Do we pledge allegiance to the flag of America? Yeah, we do, but it's on a different level. There's no level like heaven, there's no level like the kingdom of God. And so let's look at ourselves in that way. And I've got something I want you to keep in mind as we get into this message of three aspects of our homeland security, not talking about our country, but talking about our citizenship being in heaven.
Speaker 1:And you know, the Bible says, in Mark, chapter 16, these signs. Jesus said this these signs shall follow them that believe. And then he named those signs. He talked about casting out devils, he talked about laying hands on the sick, he talked about heavenly protection against poison, against snakes, against demonic powers. I mean, it's pretty breathtaking, the signs that are available to follow the believer. These signs shall follow that's the strongest language in the Greek. These signs shall follow the believer In my name, they shall. And like, for instance, laying hands on the sick Hands, they shall lay Heel, they shall be. I mean, that's the literal Greek.
Speaker 1:But you know, there's another aspect to our lives, especially right now, and that is the signs of the times. We're living where the signs of the times are in the news. We're seeing all of the difficulty. We're seeing foreign nations trying to take over our country. We've got communists openly running for the mayor of New York City and Minneapolis. These people are not only communists, they're Islamists, they're double. At some point in the future those are going to rip apart. They're not compatible with one another. But for right now they can do a lot of damage and our country is still under assault and there's, you know, they've got the Democrat Party that is at danger, I mean.
Speaker 1:So these are what Signs of the times and let me just say this before I get too far along the signs following the believer will restore and keep what the signs of the times try to steal. I'm going to say it again the signs following the believer is so important for us to walk in Holy Ghost power. It's so important for us to exercise the ministry of the believer because if we'll do that, the signs following us will keep and restore what the signs of the times tries to steal. The signs of the times are trying to steal. I think about all those lives, the signs of the time. Jesus said in the last days there's going to be floods, and look at what the flood did in the hill country. It just stole the lives of innocent little children and many adults. I mean, they can't even find all the bodies yet and hundreds of people died. And you know, we need the signs following so that we can protect and preserve and keep what the signs of the times tries to steal.
Speaker 1:So I want to get into the three aspects of our homeland security. Our citizenship is in heaven. And so the first aspect, security. We can look it up in the. I prefer the 1828 Webster's Dictionary because it's closest to the Bible concordance. He was a Bible teacher, bible scholar, man of God. Noah Webster was, and so that dictionary is reliable as to what the English language meant back then. You know, remember the Democrats are trying to change the English language. The left is always trying to redefine words, trying to redefine what a male is, what a female is, redefine what right is, what wrong is, what good is, what evil is. So we need a dictionary like that one and the dictionary security. It means safety, freedom from fear and catastrophe.
Speaker 1:Jesus said fear not. 14 times in the Gospels Fear not, fear not. Times in the Gospels Fear not, fear not. And I like Philippians 4, 6 in the Message Bible. It says don't worry about anything, pray about everything. You know, worry is just another word for fear. Worry, worry, worry, worry, worry. What if? What if? What if that's fear? Worry, what if? What if? What if that's fear? Well, don't worry, pray. You know.
Speaker 1:I like what Hebrews 13, 5 and 6 says. You know, for he hath said I shall never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man will do unto me. And the Amplified says it this way. He says for he has said I shall never leave you nor forsake you, never, never, never. That's a triple emphasis on that. And so, because he's never left us and never will leave us once we're saved, he's with us all the time. He's with us always, now and forever. We have no reason to fear man. The fear of man brings a snare. You know.
Speaker 1:1 Peter, 5, 7 tells us to cast all of our cares, all of our anxieties, all of our fears, all of our concerns once and for all on him for he careth for us. There's no reason both of us being being having to watch like that. Yeah, we should be alert, there's no question, but we should not be alert in a fearful way. We should once and for all see that you don't do that every day, you don't. Well, you know, I cast my care on the Lord this morning. No, you should have done that when you heard this message. I did this 40 some odd years ago and I've never had to do it again. I did it one time, and every time I'm tempted to fear which you know, I'm tempted to fear like you are. Then I remind myself and I remind the devil and I remind the spirit of fear. I refuse to fear. Long time ago, I cast the whole of my care on God. Well, you better be careful. No, thank you, I won't be. Thank you very much. I care not, I don't care, I don't have a care. Praise God, that's my confession. Why? Because he cares for me, he's watching over me, he's never going to leave me. Why should I stay awake at night? Why should I worry about tomorrow? And so we shouldn't. In fact, worry is a fear, worry is a sin, I should say In Psalm 91, verse 1, I mean it says that we have a secret place.
Speaker 1:He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm dwelling in the secret place. I'm in the cleft of the rock. His hand is keeping me from all the evil that's going past me. I'm telling you, there's a lot of evil that goes every day. There's evil all around and he's got his hand up shielding us from it. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:Talking about Homeland Security, and we've got the best security. I mean, you know, our Secretary of Homeland Security does not sleep. He does not sleep, he does not lie, he cannot fail. We had Mayorkas. He failed, he slept, he was, you know. I just, you know what I'd like. I'd like maybe this sounds kind of bad I would like to pass a law that says if you're not born in this country, you can't be a dog catcher, much less anybody that gets to be in position of authority. I mean, you know, honestly, we need Americans in charge, people that know what we're all about. We don't need these freaks from overseas coming in here like the squad. You know that Ileana Omar was talking trash about America and she was talking about how great her—.
Speaker 1:Well, why didn't you stay there? In fact, fact, why don't you go there to get a plane? Well, I'll pay the, I'll pay your, I'll pay your fare, I'll make the reservations, I'll buy your first class. Don't come back. Praise the Lord, all right, that's enough of that.
Speaker 1:Everybody say security, say safety, freedom from fear, freedom from catastrophe. Amen, all right. And then the second aspect of security that I see. When you look at it, security is something pledged to ensure the performance of an obligation, is something pledged to ensure the performance of an obligation, something pledged to ensure the performance of an obligation, for instance, a security deposit. If you're going to rent a house or rent an apartment, most of the time you've got to have a security deposit, and that's in cash. You write a check and they keep it, and then when you move out, they inspect the premises and they'll find every kind of thing they can to make you forfeit your security deposit.
Speaker 1:I remember the very first apartment Gladys and I rented here in Houston. After we graduated from A&M, we moved into the Northline Colonial Apartments. It's a lovely place. Today, northline Shopping Center has been torn down. Now it's at the corner of Airline and Cross Timbers. Even back then they stole the battery out of my car, but you can imagine what it's like 40, some odd years later. I mean you can't you know, if you sit still too long they might steal you.
Speaker 1:But anyway, we had, I think, a $200 security deposit and Gladys, you know, when we moved out, man, she went back in there and she cleaned that place. She cleaned the oven, she mopped the floor in the kitchen, she vacuumed the carpet. I mean it was spotless and they wouldn't give us the $200. They made up something you know that said that we had failed. And oh, I mean to tell you she got in their face. Little Baptist girl did not appreciate the waste. I said you know what I tried to tell you they weren't going to give it back. It would have saved you a whole day of all that work. We could have just left it and they could have just cleaned the whole thing themselves. They're going to keep our money. They're never going to. You can themselves. They're going to keep our money. They're never going to. You can't get money out of these people. They only collect rent. They don't give it back, you know. But I think she got it back. I think she went in there. I better not tell too many stories. I'm glad it's because she's not here tonight to defend herself. But everybody say security deposit.
Speaker 1:You know, in our first building, you know, you know we leased a building over where the super target is now. That building had been vacant for a year. It was falling down, nasty place, rats in the ceiling and stains all in the in the ceiling and everything and the carpet was like sandpaper. You know it's carpet, but it was so. It's like. It's like if you ever fell out in the spirit and rolled over on like cheek on that carpet. It's like sandpaper. I mean it's terrible. And he wanted a five thousand dollar damage deposit and it's like the end of the world. I mean there's not. Was all? It was all I could do to believe God, just to lease the thing. And then there he wanted a whole month that's a month's rent, $5,000. And uh, you know what? I just gotten a credit card. After all bunch of years eight or 10 years since I'd had a credit card. I just got it, had a $5,000 limit on it and I put the security deposit on that credit card and thank God it allowed us to move in, but we had to have that security deposit.
Speaker 1:Let's look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. Pastor, what in the world does that have to do with anything? Well, I'm fixed to tell you. Just hold on 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. It's a good thing. Verse 1.
Speaker 1:We'll start with verse 1. For we know there's some things you need to know in Revelation. You've got to have Bible knowledge, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle, were dissolved that's talking about your physical body, if it were dissolved, if it were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this fact, in this knowledge, in this revelation, we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so, be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked, for we that are in this tabernacle do grow being burdened.
Speaker 1:What does, what does that mean? It just means that in life you're going to have certain setbacks. In life, you're going to have to battle for your health. You're going to have to battle your mind your mind is the biggest battleground there is, right up here and you're going to have to take control of your mind. And you're going to have to take control and authority over your flesh. Your flesh will give you trouble, and so, sometimes, you know, you think, oh man, I'll be so glad to get my heavenly body. You know, I'll be so glad when, in an instant of time, I'm going to have a brand new one, like Jesus has, the kind that walks through walls and eats fried chicken. No, he didn't eat fried chicken, but he had fish tacos. It's pretty close, all right, for we're in this time where we do groan being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. See, these are mortal bodies, these are death doomed bodies that, if Jesus tarries, that's where we're headed. We're headed to the grave or to the you know wherever.
Speaker 1:If you decide to have your body burned, I see, I don't, I don't condemn people that have their bodies burned. Well, that's a heathen, well, I know, but they didn't have to pay as much money to the undertaker as we do, and some people just don't have the cash, and I, you know, god doesn't have any problem raising a bunch of ashes. It's not about that. So, yeah, let's you know. If you want to be buried, fine, but if you want to have, you know, be burned up and saves a little money. Well, I'm not going to criticize.
Speaker 1:So you know, I had a friend of mine went to high school with and as far as I know he wasn't saved. I mean, I'd saw him a year or two at a class reunion before he died and it didn't look like he was saved then because he was drunk, drunker than Cooter Brown. I don't know who Cooter was, but he was always drunk. And I've grown up knowing about Cooter Brown. Have you all ever heard of him? Have you ever met him? I don't know, but this guy was close.
Speaker 1:But you know he died and so I was invited to the scattering of his ashes, which was on a friend of his friend's ranch down in south Texas, just outside of Refurio. So Gladys and I decided to go. There was a handful of people there and and so, uh, when I got there I realized, you know, they started talking about him. He says, yeah, he had his. You know he, you know he was had his, uh, ashes with his dog. He had his dog cremated the same time and they got the ashes.
Speaker 1:He's in there with these ashes of his dog and I thought, you know, I think if I'd have known that I probably wouldn't have, you know, even decided to come to come. I mean, this is a ridiculous. I mean, how stupid are you Really? You burned your dog up with you and now you're, you know so anyway. So it it's, it's hot and it's a hot day and it's windy down there. It's just right right up there. And you know somebody, you know they didn't say one, two, three and they just dumped that. They threw the ashes and man, I mean, I dodged, I mean, but one of my ex-classmates got it full in the face. I mean, the whole thing hit him right here. It was pretty.
Speaker 1:Anyway, enough of thatmation. If you go, have at it, it's fine. If you want to do it, just don't invite me to the scattering. All right, I know it's Wednesday night, but I can have fun. Okay, almost everything has happened to me as an example of some sort. You know, I don't know what. All right, so have y'all left me?
Speaker 1:On second corinthians, I haven't gotten to the meat, the meat of the thing, yeah, so we're groaning being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality, verse four, might be swallowed of life. Now, he that hath wrought us or created us or made us for the self same thing is God, who hath also given unto us the earnest, the security deposit of his spirit. See, we know this, we know it's going to happen. We know we're going to have glorified bodies. We know our bodies are going to last for all eternity. It's not going to be these things that we have right now. They're not going to be subject to infirmity, they're not going to be subject to weakness, they're not going to be subject to death. And why do we know that? Because we have the security deposit in the person of the Holy Ghost living on the inside of us. Come on, lift your hand. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:You know, when you know some things, I'm telling you it'll get through. Get you through trouble, because you're going to have trouble in this body, you're going to have trouble in this mind. You're going to have. You're going to have things you have to overcome. You're going to have to. You're going to have to make a decision at some point to say no, devil, I'm you. And you're going to have to make a decision at some point to say no, devil, I'm you. Know I might not make it over you, but I'm going to make it around you. And if I can't make it around you, I'm going to make it under you. But one thing about it I'm going to make it past you. I'm getting past this thing. I said I'm getting past this thing. I don't know who that's for, but it's for somebody here tonight. Praise God, you're going to get past it.
Speaker 1:But I say security To secure that we will have a glorified body and an eternal home in heaven. I mean, we've got that locked up and the proof of it is the Holy Ghost living on the inside. Again, I want you to begin looking at yourself from the spiritual standpoint and I want you to begin to think about the fact that the signs that follow the believer will preserve and defend against the devil stealing things through the signs of the times. You know there's nothing we can do about them. They are going to happen. There's no kind of uh, uh. There's no kind of a siren, there's no kind of forewarning that can stop a flash flood in the hill country. Forget about it, boys. It's going to happen because Jesus said there's going to have trouble in the last days. There's just going to be things we can't stop. There's going to be hurricanes, there's going to be famines, there's going to be wars, there's going to be rumors of wars, there's going to be bloodshed. I mean, in the end, days, perilous times shall come. There's nothing we can do about that. But we can have security and not be afraid of it. And we can have security that, no matter what happens, praise God, we're going to be here for the long haul. Hallelujah, get anything out of this tonight the earnest of the spirit.
Speaker 1:You know I was a home builder for 25 years and you know every house that I sold I had, I had to get an earnest money contract signed. I mean, there's no way I'm going to just shake hands with a modern person today and say, oh, you're going to buy my house, okay, and we agree on a price, and I just shake hands with them and and then I go about my business getting it ready, and then they don't show up and they said, oh well, we decided to buy another house down the street. No, I have an earnest money contract and they have to put earnest money down. They have to write the check. Now, you know, for the longest time I got the check in my account. But Now, you know, for the longest time I got the check in my account. But then you know fancy lawyers and fancy people at the bank and all that. They start making all these rules, and especially when you have a realtor, that's part of it. Then they started making out the check to the title company.
Speaker 1:And then you know, if, for whatever reason, that person didn't perform and I had a right to the earnest money, I still had to go and I had to get a release from the title company. And you know what? The title company, they have a bunch of lawyers and they find, just like the security deposit, they don't want to give me my earnest money. I mean, it's almost like an act of Congress to get earnest money back, the way it's designed to go back in my bank account to at least give me some amount of damage. And it's not enough to cover even the interest that I lost waiting on you to buy the house. What if I went in there and did some things just for you that the next buyer doesn't even want?
Speaker 1:So you know, after that happened a few times, I got smart. I said, ok, you want to repaint the bedroom yellow? Okay, great, here's what it'll cost you in cash upfront. That's written to me right now, because once I and it's expensive, oh, that's too expensive. I said, well, it's because I've got it built in there that I can paint it white again After you, if you decide not to buy it, I've got to redo it. Why should I be out just because you want a custom house and you didn't buy it as a custom house, you bought it as a spec house.
Speaker 1:It's finished now and I got to come back. I got to get everybody back in there. I got to get mask off the floor, I got to get the painter in there. It's going to take three coats of paint to cover white with yellow. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Aren't they? Isn't this interesting? Hey, guess what? We got the Holy Ghost. There ain't no going back on this deal, hallelujah, all right, the last.
Speaker 1:Security number three so we've got safety, freedom from fear and catastrophe security. We've got security, something pledged to ensure the performance of an obligation. I mean, god cannot not give us a new body. He's going to give us a new body. Period, it's going to happen, all right. Number three security is stocks, bonds, rewards, deposits. Those are kind of securities. We have the Securities and Exchange Commission, another bloated bureaucracy of unelected officials that we didn't elect.
Speaker 1:I've seen their nauseating policies in my life back in the 80s. Their nauseating policies in my life back in the 80s. They just about wrecked the housing industry in this country, which is going on right now. The Fed is wrecking the housing industry in this country by not lowering the interest rates. I mean, he just came out today that he has no inflation and here he is, he's got this high interest rate. There's no reason for it, except that this guy has got Trump derangement syndrome. He hates Trump, he doesn't want Trump's things to succeed. I mean, that's all it's about. It's even more aggravating that Trump appointed him.
Speaker 1:And who told him to appoint the Heritage Foundation? So if you ever have an idea to appoint the Heritage Foundation, so if you ever have an idea to support the Heritage Foundation, don't. They gave us Amy, they gave us Kavanaugh. They gave us this goofball that's head of the Fed. They don't know what they're doing. Let's get rid of them. Let's not put them on our list of charitable. Just give all your money to God, all right, anyway, stocks, bonds, rewards, deposits, so in other words, wealth. Everybody say wealth.
Speaker 1:So let's look at Mark 10. This is the rich young ruler that came to Jesus and he had a lot of securities. I mean he had a bunch of. He's had a boatload of securities. I mean he had just. I mean he owns a chip factory and chips are now in vogue because AI is in vogue, and so they got to build a bunch of chips and he's got a chip factory and we're going to get the chips moved from China and from Korea and from places and we're going to be the chip manufacturing center of the universe right here in America.
Speaker 1:And so he said Lord, I'm rich, but how can I? You know I love the word, I've been doing the word and everything how can I have eternal life? Tell me how I can have eternal life? And Jesus said well, you know the commandments Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal Verse 19,. Do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. You know the commandments, do those. And he's answered this rich young man owned the chip factory, a bunch of other businesses, just I'm just giving it to you in 21st century. I mean he's a rich dude, you know, he's invented the, he got the best electric car, he's got all these wives and kids running around everywhere, believes in repopulating the earth. Anyway, he says how do I have eternal life? What do I do? Keep the commandments. And he answered and said unto him, master.
Speaker 1:Verse 20, all these have I observed from my youth, man, I've been doing this all my life. And verse 21, jesus beholding and I say behold, it's different than behold, behold, he's looking, he's looking in him. Jesus had a way of looking in people. Jesus, beholding him, loved him, loved him and said unto him one thing thou lackest. I don't know about, but if I heard from the Lord that it was only one thing I lacked, I'd feel pretty good. I'd feel kind of ahead of the game maybe. Huh, one thing, it's only one thing Really. One thing thou lackest.
Speaker 1:Go thy way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor. See, a lot of people say give it all to the poor. No, it doesn't say give it all to the poor. He said sell all you have. He said sell the chip factory, sell the iPhone plant, sell the power plant that it takes to make the chips and make the AI. Sell that, sell everything and give and help the poor with some of it. See, he didn't say all of it. He didn't say give. God never tells people to give it all. He told him sell what you had. Give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven. You'll have treasure If you do that. You'll have treasure in heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow me.
Speaker 1:Apostolic call, just as much as Peter, james and John and the other 12. This is an apostolic call. Jesus didn't call anybody to follow him. I mean, how about the demoniac? He told him to go back home. The demoniac wanted to follow him. No, no, go back home and tell how great things the Lord has done for you. Just be a witness, don't you? No, you're not following.
Speaker 1:He called this young man who owned. He was a. He's a billionaire. He had a lot of stuff. Jesus told him to sell it all and help the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. Once you do that, come, take up your cross.
Speaker 1:What does that mean? Sacrifice, quit doing what you want to do. Do what I want you to do. I mean, every one of those disciples had to, had to give up what they had done to follow him. I had to give up everything I wanted to do previously to do what he wanted me to do, and that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing when you know what he wants you to do. It's not really a cross, it's a blessing.
Speaker 1:And he was sad at that saying and went away greed, for he had mega possessions. So you know the possessions really, I mean the possessions had him. The thing that Jesus saw in him is that wealth, the securities, the stocks, the ownership positions had him, they had him. And so notice, I mean Jesus said now you go and help the poor, give alms, see, give alms. That just means help the poor. It doesn't mean give everything to the poor. What are they going to do with a chip factory? Nothing. They don't know what to do with it. We can't give poor people stuff like that. We help them. Alms is help and you'll have what Treasure in heaven? There's a conversion between helping people here and up there. You build an account. That's what Jesus said was going to help this guy. He needed to sow some seed. He wasn't rich toward God, he was rich toward his own businesses. He was obedient to the law, the letter of the law. He's a good guy, but he hadn't sown any seed for his ministry. All right.
Speaker 1:So let's look here at Matthew, chapter 6. He said basically the same thing at the Sermon of the Mount. People were astounded because he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. They had never heard preaching like he preached on the Sermon of the Mount Matthew, chapter 6, verse 19,.
Speaker 1:Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also where your treasure is. See, the rich young ruler's treasure was here on earth, not in heaven. He wasn't willing to do a transfer. He wasn't willing to give up the riches. He wasn't willing to sell. It wasn't willing to give up the riches he wasn't willing to sell. It wasn't even the riches, it was the stuff that that riches had bought. He had stuff, he had businesses, he had, he had, he had enterprise.
Speaker 1:Is that wrong? No, it's not wrong to have enterprises. Wrong for enterprise to have you. It's wrong for things to have you. It's wrong for a passive income stream to have you. It's not wrong to have a passive income stream. In fact, it's really convenient to have one. I recommend it, but it can't have you.
Speaker 1:You're going to have to pass the money test. Brother Osteen used to say that. Brother Hagen used to say that. I've heard Mark say that. What do you mean? The money test? I'm telling you, we're in covenant with God and he's going to require things of us in the financial area just to make sure that those things don't have us. Are you with me now? Does he do it because he needs it? No, he does it because you need to sow seed and sometimes he can tell, when he's beholding you, that something may be in your life that's getting a grip on you. You know, when you got a lot, you know that lot can get a grip on you and you can be unwilling to part from it. You just hang on, hang on, hang on to it. God's trying to get you to do it his way.
Speaker 1:Let's look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. Pray, you're getting something out of this, verse 34. He's talking to the Hebrews. They had been badly damaged because of Paul Verse 34,. He's talking to the Hebrews. They had been badly damaged because of Paul Verse 34, but you had compassion on me and my bonds. In other words, he was blocked up and you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. We don't know what that's about, but it seems like somebody took advantage of them and stole some of their stuff. Advantage of them and stole some of their stuff.
Speaker 1:And he's saying you had compassion on me and my bonds and you took joy from the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. See, because this world, their heart was not fixed on this world, their heart was fixed on the kingdom of heaven. They, they looked, they knew they had an enduring substance. We, they knew there was no moth could corrupt it. No, no one could break through and steal it, nobody. You know it's going to be, it's going to be, it can't fade. You have it in yourselves and knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance, that's something we need to keep in mind today. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Well, pastor, you said it was going to be a milestone year and I haven't seen. Well, god's not through yet.
Speaker 1:Keep on sowing your seed, keep on looking. You're stacking up a deposit up there Every time you tithe and give in the face of maybe something else not working out financially like you thought. It would Give God time to work on things. I mean, seed has to grow, there's seed time, there's always seed time. You don't ever get an instant harvest and if you did, it wouldn't be significant enough like an herb.
Speaker 1:You know, have you ever had an herb garden that's growing in your kitchen window? I think way, way back there we used to have these windows that we put in houses, you know, and they had this like a bay window and had a little shelf. You know, it was a terrible energy loss. I mean, you know, on a winter day, if that was on the north side of the house, you had a north man. It was horrible. They were, if you ever had one, you wanted to tear it out and put a storm window in there instead. But anyway, I had a little shelf in there that you could grow your herbs and you put your little herbs out there and they would grow and you would pick a little piece of deal about an inch long and put it in a little, you know, put it in your salad, whoop-dee-doo, you can get a harvest like that.
Speaker 1:But that's not going to do much, because a real harvest takes a while, doesn't it Cast not away. Therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward for you, have need of patience that if you've done the will of God you'll receive the promise Everybody say. Enduring substance See, stuff down here is not enduring. Sometimes it can get stolen. Sometimes, you know, you can make the wrong decision. Next thing you know, you sign a piece of paper. You didn't know what you were signing. I mean, you know, I signed a piece of paper one time and it cost me 10 years of not having enough. I signed a piece of paper against the witness. I didn't follow the witness. One piece of paper, you know. All right.
Speaker 1:First Peter, chapter one three forms of security in our homeland security. They're so powerful. I said it's so powerful. First Peter, verse 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively or to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you or for us who are kept by the power of God through faith, under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Part of what he's talking about there is our glorified bodies. It's going to be revealed in the last time. I mean, we're just like an atomic second. I mean the graves are going to open out here in the graveyard and people are going to be raised from the dead and then we which are alive and who remain or should not be ahead of them, we're not going to get ahead of them, we're going to see them rise and then we're going to be changed in an atomic second Boom, in a nanosecond Boy. We're going to have this, we're going to be clothed upon.
Speaker 1:That's a part of that is talking about that. But the other part of that is just talking about our inheritance. It's what? It's incorruptible, it's undefiled, it's unfading and it's reserved in heaven. It's got our name on it. Nobody else can lay claim to it. Nobody can steal it. It can't get termites.
Speaker 1:If you think your house is your inheritance, well, a house can get termites. A house can get a tree that falls through the roof. A house can catch on fire and burn up. It's definitely temporary, but what we've got built up in there is permanent. It's never going to fade. It's never going to permanent. It's never going to fade. It's never going to flag. It's never going to decree. Come on, lift your hands. Right now we have something that's absolutely insured for its full amount. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to go through some things down here, but when we're going through them, it's great to have these things in our spirit so that we never fear that, we never doubt that God is on the inside of us as surety. He's backing up. His Holy Spirit is in here as earnest money to say everything I've promised you. Here's the earnest money. My Holy Spirit is in there with you. Glory to God, helping you, helping you every day to attain what it is you need. Yeah, we need some things down here and not everything up there. I mean, yeah, we've got some things, you know, but it's up there that supplies down here. Everybody say the things up there are supplying my needs down here. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:And Jesus didn't just talk about this once or twice. He talked about it a lot, and so did the disciples. Here's Peter saying the same thing. Here's Paul saying the same thing to Hebrews. I mean, this is woven through the entire New Testament. And because of this wonderful homeland security, why? Because we're citizens of heaven. Yeah, we're here. We're supposed to occupy until he comes. No question we're going to keep doing that. It's important, but I'm telling you every day that we do that. I've got my eyes up there. I know where my citizenship really comes from. It comes from heaven and my orders come from heaven. We have in homeland security ensuring our inheritance and our reward, and, as citizens of heaven, we really do have a guaranteed homeland security. Come on, lift your hands and receive tonight. Hallelujah, glory to God. Well, I preached a long time, longer than I planned on, but I got excited. I don't know. I get excited about giving you the truth and giving you the word of God, hallelujah. Thank you, lord.